Short Takes
Get The Money Back
Ever tried evading taxes? Never ever think of doing so if you happen to be a salaried, middle-class person. The taxman is sure to get you and make your life hell for refusing to pay a few thousand rupees in tax.
A salaried person is, in fact, prevented from doing it as his or her tax is deducted at the source itself. TDS is thus a device to keep the middle-income person on the straight and narrow.
However, if you are a politician, a big industrialist, or even a corrupt bureaucrat siphoning away a few million dollars to some tax have like St Kitts it is no big deal. You keep the taxman guessing helplessly.
According to Transparency International, a German intelligence agency has acquired the names and account numbers of people who have illegally parked huge funds in Liechtenstein, a tax haven near Austria.
The German intelligence has got 800 account numbers, several hundred of which are estimated to be Indian. The German government has offered the Government of India to provide the list of the account holders, but the Indian government has not responded to the offer.
Even the Opposition is quiet. So, what does it show? The entire political class seems to be united on the this issue. A deadly silence is sweeping across the political spectrum. Meanwhile, the taxman is making sure that we, the middle class, pay our taxes in time.
Why is everybody silent? Well, we have no comments to offer.
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IOSCA